Transcript: Mayor Adams Completes First Section of East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, Taking Steps to Protect Lives, Property

October 17, 2024

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Good morning. So long ago, we built walls to protect against our enemies. And today, we're still building walls to protect against a very different enemy, climate change.

Thanks to the dedication of the leaders and their staff of DDC, DEP, the Parks Department, I've got to call them all out because their work is incredible. Tom Foley and DDC, Sue Donoghue and Parks, Rit and Lorraine at DEP, thank you very much. We are bringing you today 3,200 feet of concrete wall, the equivalent of the total weight of four whales, of a dozen floodgates. And the man who is going to lead us to protect our beautiful city for 400 more years on the cusp of our 400th birthday, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Let's do the most important things first. Number one, go Liberty. Number two, go Mets. And number three, go Yankees. You know, think about that. Think about where we are right now in our history as we're seeing three of our dynamic sports teams really leading the city and moving us in the right direction. This goes to show you the resiliency of this amazing place we call New York.

And I say it over and over again, whenever you see Rit, Tom and our amazing Sue over at Parks, some good things are happening in our city. They are focused and they're great New Yorkers that will continue to move us in the right direction. It's no secret that climate change is real and all those who denied it for so many years are finally coming to the realization that if we don't, number one, acknowledge the existence of climate change and do what needs to be done right now and make sure that we become a future in our thoughts on what we can do in the future. All three of these agency heads under Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi's portfolio are all taking steps to do that.

We are clear with the team from all of these agencies. We're clear that when we talk about the future of our city and how safe it is, all you have to do is look at what's playing out in the Carolinas and what's playing out in Florida to know the billions of dollars in impact that it causes when we're hit with one of these major storms, but also how the emotional toll, the emotional toll of losing everything you have, all the things that remind you of what life is like in these particular parts of our city. I speak to some of my law enforcement officers who are retired to Florida and they're talking about the devastation of their homes and losing everything and that is what we want to prevent.

And so this hard working team of people that understands we must ensure that we're prepared for the future around climate issues that we're facing. And New York City is the world's greatest coastal city. Many times because of our tall buildings and our infrastructure we tend to forget that, but we are a coastal city and we've seen the danger and damage that storms like Helene and Milton have caused in other regions. We want to be prepared and do that preparation with ingenuity, technology, and making the necessary investments.

So today, with the partnership of both our councilmembers that are here, Powers and Rivera, this is covering their districts and their areas. They know that it's going to take partnership. And this announcement today, we are marking the completion of phase one of Eastside Coastal Resiliency.

I remember speaking with Rivera a few years ago and she was talking about this and the movement and the beautification of this project. I know this is a proud moment for you of seeing this actually come to completion and the success of it. And there was some pushback. There were people that didn't understand the significance of it, but she just really showed true leadership and said, we have to get this done. And now people are on board when they see how beautiful this park area is.

This is one of the things I love about this administration and the team is that we know how to get stuff done. Twelve of these protective gates are now in place, twelve. And once the entire project is completed, they can be deployed when a hurricane or storm surges ahead, is on its way here, protecting lives and property. And today, we want to show you just what it looks like in 2026 when this project is complete with the flip of a switch, these gates will move. Where's my switch? Where's my flip? Okay.

That's a good workout. I don't even need the switch. I can pull it closed, you know. So you see it moves in position. It takes how many minutes to move?

Commissioner Tom Foley, Department of Design and Construction: About 20 minutes.

Mayor Adams: Okay. So it moves slowly. But this is when we are notified a storm is coming and this is going to allow us the opportunity to get the gate closed. So these gates will slide or rise into position. They will protect over 110,000 Lower East Side residents, including 28,000 in public housing, often ignored during these storms. But we have been focused on those communities that have historically been ignored.

And many of the coastal areas is dealing with housing residents. They are dealing with housing residents. So that's why this is so important for us. And it will safeguard homes and businesses and our infrastructure. The completion of phase one also involves the reopening of the new and improved Murphy Brothers Playground on Avenue C, you know, and this is what the councilwoman has talked about. And that is what the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project is all about. Taking action to protect our people, our infrastructure and our city and creating beautiful community green spaces as part of the process.

We can have them both together. We can have resiliency and green spaces that always will put a smile on Sue Donoghue's face as she constantly talks about open green spaces. So this is a $1.5 billion climate adaptation project, it is the single largest urban climate adaptation project in the U.S., the single largest in the country. And it will ultimately protect 2.5 miles of our city's coastline. Construction on the second section, which will be completed by the end of 2026, includes a complete reconstruction of East River Park and will prepare our city to withstand a future of extreme weather and rising seas.

So fighting climate change is a massive undertaking, and it takes ingenuity and with millions of people participating in this activity, and it's going to cost us billions of dollars on our shorelines, and we are ready to make that investment. And this is something that Rit Aggarwala, the commissioner, has talked about over at DEP with his team. But we have the technology to help us mitigate the effects and draw down the emissions that are causing it.

New York City is going to be the place where we put those technologies into action and create good-paying jobs, that is part of our portfolio. How do you ensure those who are impacted also receive the jobs that this climate change initiative is going to ensure, leaving no one behind, not just in lower Manhattan, but across the five boroughs, we're going to make these initiatives.

And so we're clear, as we celebrate our 400-year history, New York has been here, and we are going nowhere, and that includes Red Hook, Brooklyn, and other neighborhoods that are vulnerable to the effects of climate storms. This is the future of our city. We have the future in mind, and we will continue to move forward in the right direction. Thank you, team. Thanks, everyone that's involved.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you very much. Next we're going to bring up, we have, as the mayor mentioned, two councilmembers who've been absolutely pivotal in not only bringing resiliency to this neighborhood, but making sure it does double duty, and that is it also provides green space and recreation for the community and for all New Yorkers. So next I'd like to bring up Councilmember Rivera.

City Councilmember Carlina Rivera: Thank you so much. What a good day, right? It's a very good day today. I want to thank all of the agencies that are here, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Design and Construction, our environmental justice partners, and of course, Parks and the Mayor's Office. We cannot do this as separate entities. We really do have to work together.

So we know what the future could look like if we don't adapt to climate change. I just want to go back to the past for one second, to that Monday night in October when Hurricane Sandy hit this city, and there were parts of this community along the water, places where people live, work, and own businesses that saw up to eight feet of water. We lost 44 New Yorkers in that storm. And since then, we have seen heavy rainfall and flooding throughout the city. And so we knew from that day that we had to do something differently.

This park is a part of also the community's culture. It is where people spend their summers. This park and all along down to Pier 42 is where I learned to ride my bike, where I grew up, where I was standing that night when the storm hit. With this new park that is on time and on budget, thanks to DDC and our friends in the Mayor's Office, we are going to see 3,000 feet of coastal flood resiliency walls.

But not only that, we are going to see berms and infrastructure that really embraces what the community looks forward to, pedestrian plazas, green walkways, biodiverse landscapes and plants that are more resilient to salt spray, playgrounds and ball fields, and even more parts of the park opening up early next year. We're doing this park in phases because we knew that was the right thing to do to keep as much of it open as possible so that our communities could enjoy these spaces until they get their brand new park that they are deserving of.

And I just want to also add that this community also contributed to this infrastructure. They won a competition a long, long time ago to bring in federal dollars and then the Mayor's Office had the foresight and the vision to also contribute over a billion dollars into this project. So $1.45 billion completed in 2026. The part that we are standing in right now was completed at actually less time than was anticipated and under budget. I want to thank DDC. Under time and under budget.

And so if you go down to Pier 42, you are going to see a brand new park space in that area. We have a brand new pedestrian footbridge on Delancey Street, which is more ADA accessible to make sure that every single person can enjoy the new park, which will also be friendlier to people with disabilities. We are going to have a brand new footbridge on Jackson Street called the Corlears Hook footbridge coming in this weekend and more and more to come. When this park is finished, you're going to see, you're going to see this, you're going to see something brand new, resilient, and really for future generations.

So I'm very, very proud to be a partner in this. As I ran for office many years ago, I remember in 2017, people asked me what my priorities were. And I said the Eastside Coastal Resiliency Project is at the top of my list. And so here we are. I want to say congratulations to all of the people behind me, in front of me, beside me, and who stood really with the vision and the fortitude and stood steadfast in saying that this project had to get done. 110,000 residents, tens of thousands, almost 30,000 people living in public housing who have been historically disenfranchised and underserved when it comes to resources and protection from disasters. And really the mitigation here is first of its kind in the country.

So I'm very proud to be standing here with the deputy mayor, the mayor, and all of the department agencies and all of the staff here. And I want to thank my own staff. I know Katie Loeb is here, my chief of staff, who's been with me since day one. So thank you all. Thank you so much. I want to thank the Lower East Side Ecology Center that I see here, and especially the Parks Department and everyone else. Thank you. And to Solar One as well. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: And next, you know, it's 32,000 feet, so there's lots of districts this wall covers. I'd like to bring up Councilmember Keith Powers, who's been an advocate and a partner in getting this project to completion.

City Councilmember Keith Powers: Thank you. I want to echo what's been said today. This is a really great occasion for our neighborhood and for the whole city.

Just to put context, to put this in context, I grew up four buildings down from where we are standing right here today. My parents still live there. I live across the street in Stuyvesant Town. And I was in this park the weekend right before the storm hit. And I walked down here, and I looked down at the river, and with many of my neighbors who are standing here, we could start to see the water coming over from the East River into the park. And that was the first sign that many of us knew that this was going to be a really hard few weeks and few months for the city and for our community and our neighborhood.

And I can remember distinctly where I was in Stuyvesant Town walking through the neighborhood when the lights went off and we lost power. I can tell you the images. If you stood over and looked down onto Avenue C, you'd see cars floating, and to see our entire Avenue C here immersed in water, and how many of our neighbors were finally figuring out how exactly bad this was going to be. I can tell you about the weeks ahead.

And God bless us, because we're a neighborhood, and when the lights go out, we don't just, we get to work. And we knocked on our doors, and we talked to our neighbors, we made sure seniors had what they needed. We bought the National Garden. We set up stations at Waterside, Stuyvesant Town, Lower East Side, East Village. They had resources and services in a moment that was so difficult.

And I can tell you about a year later, when buildings were all around this neighborhood and right here on the periphery of the East River, no longer still had services and laundry rooms and basements, because they got flooded, even an avenue up, where buildings were without services for such a long time. And we knew at that moment in this neighborhood, in our community, and of course Councilmember Rivera's community, that we had to do something. It would be a failure to sit here and watch all that happen and to do nothing.

And the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project was one that was ambitious, and as the mayor said, faced controversy since the very start. And we spent hours sitting around the table negotiating on behalf of the community to make sure that as we do the urgent action of protecting against flooding and to protect against climate change, that we also made sure the community got the protections it's needed and got the resources it's needed. And years later now, I'm so proud to be standing here next to the actual physical protection that we're getting alongside a new park that's renovated and opening up in our neighborhood.

I can tell you that we have a lot of action to do on the front of fighting climate change. And we are taking action in this city every day to make sure that the city is instituting policies and investing in resources, investing in partners that are fighting that. But we can't ignore the imminent, the urgent challenge that stands right before us, which is to protect against the next storm that might come. And it's not just the East River, there's so many other neighborhoods that need it too in this city.

I want to be thankful to our federal representatives who did secure hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money to secure our waterfront. And it's easy to talk about fighting climate change, but it's much harder to get to the point where we're actually doing the hard work and rolling up our sleeves to fight it.

Following the approval of that project in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020, we did a groundbreaking, I believe in 2021, and we started to open up new playgrounds and projects as part of that. The first playground to our north was completed in 2022. Stuyvesant Cove Park here reopened in 2023. We have a new Solar One, solar, two partner, I see Steve Levin here, that is under construction right now. We're very excited about that with city dollars.

And now 2024, the third portion of that is open. And just south of here, last week, we opened Murphy Brothers Playground, which has been a playground and a park that's been here for a long time, but it's finally getting the modernization that it needs with new resources and new programming in it as well, including read new baseball fields for the Peter Stuyvesant Little League, which the little league I played in and I am so grateful for.

We have two new dog runs, large and small dogs. I'm seeing neighbors now walking across the street with their dog to go use that. We're adding a new bathroom in that playground. I cannot tell you for parents who bring their kids there for the little league, how important that is. A new playground, a new basketball court and much more.

But this is really the most important part still, is the part where we protect ourselves against the next storm. So I'm so grateful to our partners in Parks, DDC, to the Mayor's Office, to my colleague Councilmember Rivera and all of our colleagues who helped make this today happen, to my staff. I see Ben Jacobs here and the rest of my staff who helped make this happen. This is a really important day for our community. So I'm very thankful and thank you, everyone, for being here today.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: And I just want to say on the on time or ahead of schedule and under budget, it's important to note that the Adams administration got an important victory in Albany this session, which will allow us to use, I'll say a nerdy word, progressive design build to build resiliency projects. So moving forward, we'll be even more ahead of schedule and even more under budget.

Mayor Adams: Why don't we do a few on topic?

Question: I have a question about maintaining and operating and where the funding is coming from, both now and in the future.

Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala, Department of Environmental Protection: Sorry, could you, about maintenance and operating?

Question: Is that the same now in the future? And where does the funding come from?

Commissioner Aggarwala: So as so the project, of course, is being constructed by DDC. As DDC does for many interagency projects around the city. The actual flood infrastructure will eventually be turned over to DEP. As you may recall, a year and a half ago, the mayor made the decision that coastal resilience would evolve to be a core responsibility of DEP.

And we have somewhere back here Laurian Farrell, our deputy commissioner of the new Bureau of Coastal Resilience, which is standing up to do that. And behind me, we've got some of our crew from what are currently the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations that are gearing up to be ready to maintain this. We are working with the Office of Management and Budget because we're not actually allowed to use water from the water rates, which is how most of DEP is funded. For coastal resilience, our state authorizing legislation does not allow that. And so we're working with OMB to find the general tax levy money so we can move these guys over so they can actually maintain.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Commissioner Aggarwala: Well, we don't need it right now because the gates haven't been turned over yet. It's the contractor who's doing the maintenance right now, right?

Commissioner Foley: Correct, but starting in the new year it will be our friends at DEP.

Commissioner Aggarwala: So we're working with OMB to get the money on time.

Question: The funding for much of the Sandy recovery S4 resiliency has come from FEMA grants. Is this project fully funded by FEMA? Has the city put some into this?

Commissioner Foley: So for the overall program here, we're at Project Area 1. The overall project for Eastside Coastal Resiliency is $1.4 billion. It was $335 million. It was earmarked from FEMA. We already have that reimbursed. When we get over to Red Hook, there's obviously a larger portion of the reimbursement from the federal government.

Commissioner Aggarwala: But just to clarify, the rest came from the city, right?

Commissioner Foley: Correct.

Question: I just want to follow up on the funding. You say the new year. Do you mean the fiscal year or the calendar year?

Commissioner Aggarwala: The calendar year.

Question: So January 1?

Commissioner Aggarwala: Yeah. January won the contract [inaudible].

Question: And then the funding hits already or…?

Commissioner Aggarwala: We're talking to OMB.

Question: So just so right now, we don't know exactly. We don't know how much it would cost.

Mayor Adams: We will get this done in finance. And Jacques is tight with the money because it's your money. But we know how imperative this is. And so as they go through the number crunching, this project and all the projects that's dealing with coastal resiliency will be funded.

And we're going to continue to talk with our federal partners, our state partners. Everyone should be on board because when we have a major storm like this, eight feet of water, devastating communities, I think the councilman's personal narrative shows us the imperativeness of making sure that we get this done and we will get it done.

Question: Do you have a target date for once everything is completed? A target date for, excuse my, like a dry run?

Commissioner Foley: So obviously we completed the work here. We'll be working with DEP through January for the area south of us. The $1 billion project that's on budget, on schedule. That will be completed at the end of 2026. During that time we'll continue to work with DEP and the maintenance thereof, the operations.

DEP is part of our design process as well, obviously at Red Hook and other areas. And there's also green infrastructure work that we're working in adjacent to these resiliency projects here. So all this is happening in tandem as it should.

Deputy Commissioner Laurian Farrell, Coastal Resilience, Department of Environmental Protection: Good afternoon. I will just add that we plan to do tests every single year of the system. So it's working with NYCEM really closely for emergency management. Exercising both tabletop and in real time exercises to make sure that we're ready and everybody is well trained on every element of the system.

Question: So you're doing exercises before the entire pipeline is completed?

Deputy Commissioner Farrell: Yes, at least desktop exercises. But when the whole system is built we will also do ground exercises, live exercises.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

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